In the wake of Donald Trump's indictment over his handling of classified information, some worry that the anger and resentment that led to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been kicked back into high gear. According to extremism expert, author and podcast host Brad Onishi, the religious underpinnings that inspired the violence on Jan. 6 could spark violence once again.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Onishi said that while it's good that no violence erupted outside the Miami courthouse where Trump was booked this week, "there are little fires everywhere that are pointing us toward deep civil unrest and deep mistrust in our public square."
Onishi says that "Christian nationalism is pervasive in right-wing American politics at the moment," and it emanates from politicians, pastors, and Fox News hosts.
Christian nationalism seeks a nostalgia for a time when America was the “city on a hill," Onishi says.
"The narrative now is that that city on the hill has been overrun by interlopers, and those for whom the country was never intended. So maybe we need to 'build a wall' around the city, because it needs protection — too many folks have gotten in and ruined it and eroded the order that we need in the country."
According to Onishi, when Christian nationalists talk about "freedom," what they really mean is "living out your role in God’s hierarchy."
"They may see the trans person, for example, as not living according to their God-given gender," Onishi said. "So just by being on the subway, or being in their kids’ school, they’re making them less free, because the order is all out of whack. And therefore they need to do something about it. They need to go tear down displays at Target or put forth anti-trans legislation."
Christian nationalists believe that America is on the precipice of an Apocalypse, but they don't see it as the end of the world -- they're more focused on the end of the United States, he said.
"It is a sense of a cosmic war between good and evil. Many Christians believe that they are characters in an epic, and that the ending hasn’t been written yet in terms of what happens to the United States," Onishi says.
Read the full interview over at Rolling Stone.
